Take Advice From Them
by letmeoutwritenow
Summary: Oneshot: Drawing stick figures ensues flashbacks and tales of the good old days, through the seven virtues. (features Clarisse, Travis, Connor, Silena, Jason, Leo, Katie, Thalia, Nico, Grover, and Tyson)


**A/N: This really isn't focused on Percy, Annabeth, and their daughter; just the beginning and the end. Reviews are always read and appreciated!**

**One-shot: Drawing stick figures ensues flashbacks of the good old days, through the seven virtues.  
**

* * *

Percy and Annabeth Jackson watched in amusement as their seven-year-old daughter Zoë animatedly drew.

"I'm going to draw a picture of us!" she told them excitedly, reaching in her box to pull out a yellow crayon for her mother's hair. "It can be your birthday present, Daddy, since that's next week."

"Oh, don't remind me," Percy groaned, collapsing on seat beside her. "I don't want to be thirty-one!"

"You're not the only one," Annabeth muttered, who had turned thirty-one just weeks before. She watched her daughter draw for a few minutes before she furrowed her eyebrows. "Zoë, where's Lucas?" She was referring to Zoë's three-year-old brother who was taking a nap upstairs.

Zoë didn't answer her mother. She put all of her crayons back in the box and hopped off of her chair, crossing the kitchen to go put the box where it belonged. She walked back to her parents and Percy scooped up the little girl and sat her on his lap.

"Zoë," he chided, pointing at her drawing. It portrayed two tall stick figures, one with bright green eyes and one with curly blonde hair, holding hands with a short stick figure with gray eyes and curly black hair. "Your brother's part of this family, too. If this is for me, I'd like it if Lucas were in it, too."

Annabeth shot him a worried look as Zoë shook her head and claimed that she didn't like her brother. Annabeth and Percy understood that not being fond of a younger sibling was common for children, but ever since Lucas had been born, Zoë pretended like he didn't exist. She didn't look at him or help him out; she'd never carried her little brother once.

Percy sighed. "You have to like your brother, Zoë. When Mommy and I are gone, he's the only family you'll have." This conversation was taking a painful turn.

Zoë huffed. "I don't care," she argued, crossing her small arms. "I don't like Lucas, and that's that!"

"Zoë Silena Jackson," Annabeth scolded, pointing at her daughter, who gulped. Full names were never a good thing. "I'm sick of hearing this! I thought you wanted to be a nicer person. That was your New Year's resolution back in January, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Zoë answered quietly. "But I don't know _how _to be a nicer person, Mommy. I'm not mean to Lucas. That's good enough!"

Percy began to rack through his brain for ideas to help his daughter. He wanted her and her brother to have the kind of sibling relationship Travis and Connor Stoll had; minus the pranks, of course. Those two were closer than anything and always had each others back. He wanted her to protect her younger brother like Bianca di Angelo had protected Nico, almost eighteen years before.

"Zoë," he said, "have you ever heard of the seven virtues?"

"No," Zoë replied stubbornly. "Have you, Mommy?"

Annabeth nodded, giving a grateful look to her husband. "Of course, sweetie! The seven virtues help you be a nicer person, after all." At this, their daughter uncrossed her arms and studied her parents closely, suspicious.

"Oh, yeah," Percy agreed. "If you really want to know them, I have some really great stories to go along with them. But, you really don't like your brother, so I guess you can't hear them…"

"Wait!" Zoë cried. She grasped her father's arm. "I want to hear the stories, Daddy."

"Will you be nicer to Lucas?" Annabeth asked her. When she nodded eagerly, Percy chuckled.

"Well, the stories today are about some good old friends of Mommy and Daddy's…"

* * *

CHARITY – helping others

For the first time in her fourteen years of living, Clarisse la Rue was scared. (She wasn't _scared_. Children of Ares didn't get scared. She was just a little uncertain, that was all.)

Chris Rodriguez was bandaged in the infirmary; physically, Will Solace assured her, he would recover fine and be good as new. Psychologically, however, no one was sure. How would you expect a traitor to act?

Clarisse stood over Chris, who was taking a nap. He had a cast on his neck, but Will had told her it wasn't broken. The bruises on his face had faded, and he only had three broken bones. (Not bad for a demigod.) She was going to get him a bottle of water from the Big House when she remembered that this very boy had betrayed his camp, his family, his friends, and her.

No. She was not going to get him a bottle of water from the Big House (even though his laps looked really, really chapped.)

Clarisse turned to exit the infirmary. Will would be back in a few minutes and interrogate her on why she was in there.

"Is someone there? Can someone get me water and some aspirin?"

Clarisse tensed. She and Chris were the only two currently in the infirmary (which was odd, since one of the Stoll brothers was usually in there daily.) He obviously had heard her. She could only pray to Ares that he hadn't seen her.

"Clarisse, I know you're here."

The daughter of Ares sighed. She pulled out a bottle of water from her backpack. It was half-drank and lukewarm, but Chris could suck it up. She marched over to his bed and thrust the bottle in his hand.

Chris studied her for a minute before smiling wryly. "Clarisse, I can't move my neck yet. I need help drinking."

Clarisse sneered at him as she unscrewed the lid on the bottle. Hesitantly, she brought the bottle up to his lips and tilted it back, letting him drink. A few seconds later, she screwed the lid back on.

The two sat in silence for a moment. Clarisse shivered; it was almost dark out, and the infirmary didn't have central heating, so it was pretty cold. She cursed Mr. D for not wanting to spend money on heat as she pulled her sweatshirt out of her backpack.

Chris coughed a few times. Clarisse paused from putting on her sweatshirt and noticed how pale his hands looked, and how his body shivered violently every other minute.

She threw her sweatshirt at Chris's torso. He smiled wryly again (most kids of Hermes have that habit.) "Thank you, Clarisse. That's sweet of you, doing me some charity."

"I'm not sweet," Clarisse growled, turning to leave. "And this was a one time thing, Rodriguez. I'm not helping you anymore, got that?"

On her way out, Chris called, "Wait! I need some aspirin for my headache!"

Clarisse got it for him.

* * *

PRUDENCE – moderation with money

Mail Day was perhaps the most important day of the week in the Hermes cabin. It was when mail from the mortal world was delivered to the demigod campers, and in the Hermes cabin, Travis and Connor allowed trading.

"I got a wallet from my mom!" one of the younger campers crowed. "Anyone want to trade?"

"Does it have any money in it?" Travis asked suspiciously.

"No."

"Then why in Hades would I want it?"

Mail Day trading usually lasted two to three hours. There was always an abundance of campers because of the unclaimed demigods, which meant an abundance of loot.

Connor nudged Travis. "Look what Mom sent me," he whispered. Travis looked at his younger brother. "Fifty dollars in mortal cash!"

Travis's eyes widened. Their mom had just sent him a blanket for his bed and a variety of soap, deodorant, and clothes. Who needed _that_? He wondered why his little brother got the goods.

"Dude," Connor exclaimed, reaching under his bed to pull out his book of pranks. "We finally have enough money to do the Golden Mango prank! Remember how expensive mangoes were when we went to the grocery store?"

"Ugh, yeah," Travis agreed, looking over his brother's shoulder at the book. He skimmed over the rest of the supplies. "We'll need a big mango, too. And some black Sharpies. Oh, and gold spray paint."

"We'll need to buy a few," Connor added, thinking. "With our dyslexia, we're definitely going to mess up a few times. 'Hottest' can be a big word sometimes." He pulled out his calculator and added together the total cost of gas to pay for the van drive, mangoes, markers, and spray paint. It came out to be over thirty dollars.

Travis hesitated. As much as he wanted to see the Aphrodite girls fight each other (since they definitely didn't do much fighting at sword practice), he didn't want his younger brother to spend over half of his newly acclaimed money.

He went through his own wallet and came up with two drachmas and a gum wrapper; they would be completely useless in the mortal world.

"Listen, Connor, I don't want you to spend your money on this. It's too much," he sighed. Connor looked horrified.

"What? No!" he exclaimed, making a few of the other cabin members look at them. "Travis, we've had this planned forever. I don't mind."

"No, no, save your money for something important," Travis insisted. "A few mangoes and spray paint can wait, you know? We don't need to waste our money just because we get some."

Connor nodded reluctantly as he hid the money in his jeans pockets. "Okay, I guess you're right."

"Besides," Travis added with a gleam in his eye, "we're sons of Hermes. We can always just steal them for free."

* * *

TEMPERANCE – abstinence from unnecessary things

Silena was at a crossroad.

'Pack light' was something that was always confusing for a daughter of Aphrodite. Will Solace had told her those two words. She was going on a short quest with him and Sherman from Ares.

Will knocked on her cabin door. "Silena," he called. "I'm going to go get some supplies from the Big House. Sherman and I will meet you at Thalia's tree in twenty minutes, okay?"

"Okay, no problem!" Silena answered.

When the sound of Will's footsteps resided, Silena groaned loudly. She studied her small duffel bag; she had three changes of clothes, mascara, eyeliner, blush, Chapstick, an extra pair of sneakers, her dagger, a magic spells book, her reading glasses, and a small compact mirror. All of the items were completely necessary for a quest!

Silena looked at what she was wearing; short running shorts, an orange Camp Half-Blood tee shirt, and her nice pair of Nike sneakers. She figured she didn't need another pair of shoes, so she tossed her extra pair out. That was really all that could leave.

Her sister Lacy emerged from the bathroom. "Hi, Silena! Are you all ready for your quest?" She waggled her eyebrows. Silena rolled her eyes.

"For the hundredth time, I do _not_ like Will Solace," she groaned.

"Oh, that's right," Drew called from her bunk bed. She smirked. "You like Beckendorf, don't you?"

Silena felt her face heat up. "Gods, guys, drop it," she murmured. "I'm leaving in twenty minutes and I'm not even packed!"

Lacy looked over her older sister's shoulders. "Why are you bringing your favorite makeup?" she asked, grabbing the mascara, eyeliner, and blush. "These were gifts from Mom, Silena. What if you lost them or something? You can't just buy these at Ulta."

"That's true," Silena said hesitantly. Drew rolled her eyes.

"Sweetie, you're gorgeous without makeup," she insisted. "One of the few people I know that doesn't need it. Leave that Chapstick, though, in case Will—"

"_Drew_!" Silena shrieked, laughing nervously. "I'm not kissing Will Solace on this quest, okay? I don't like him!"

Drew shrugged and walked over to Silena and Lacy. She studied the duffel bag before reaching in and pulling out the mirror and one of the three sets of clothes. "This is just extra weight, Silena. Didn't Will say to pack light?"

"Yes," Silena groaned, zipping up the bag. "I wish he hadn't."

Her two sisters wished her luck as she made her way toward Thalia's tree. Will and Sherman greeted her when she arrived, and Will offered to carry her bag.

"Pretty good, daughter of Aphrodite," Will commented as he held her bag. "This is lighter than my bag and Sherman's, too."

"Wait," Silena said. "I could've packed _more_?"

Will nodded. "Totally, yeah. We're going to be gone for a few weeks. When I told you to pack light, I was kind of thinking you'd pack up a quarter of your closet. No offense."

Silena told him it was fine; she wasn't thinking about his semi-insult to Aphrodite kids. She was thinking that if she got back from this quest alive, she was going to kill Lacy and Drew.

* * *

JUSTICE – being fair with others

Jason laughed as Eliza said something to him. Leo fumed.

Piper was gone for one week to get away from Arizona, and all the girls at school swarmed Jason (even more than usual.) Jason didn't even notice that they were flirting with him. That annoyed Leo. He would love it if a girl like Eliza even acknowledged his presence.

"Hi. Leo, right?"

Leo looked up from his cup of fruit punch. The new gym teacher, Coach Hedge, had limped his way over to Leo, who, in a moment of weakness, had got caught with him. If you talked to Coach Hedge for two minutes, Leo had found out, you talked to him for about two hours.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "Can I help you, Coach?"

"Oh, no, no," the gym teacher replied, shaking his head. "Grover just…I was…never mind. Hehe, gotta go!" He limped away, and Leo felt even worse than before. Even the new gym teacher didn't want to hang around with him.

Jason looked over at Leo. Eliza and Olivia, two of the prettiest girls at school (after Piper, of course; way after Piper) were commenting on his chain necklace. He had a beautiful girlfriend, and Leo didn't.

"Actually, my best friend Leo made this," Jason told the two girls. "He's great with stuff like that. Maybe he could make you guys some bracelets or something?"

The two giggled and skipped over to Leo, who looked overwhelmed by the sudden attention. Jason gave him a thumbs up. Piper didn't deserve him talking to other girls who obviously liked him. Leo deserved some girls admiring his skills.

Jason grinned when Olivia pecked Leo on the cheek. Today, if just for this moment, justice was served.

* * *

FORTITUDE – never giving up

The sun made Camp Half-Blood at least ninety degrees in July. Despite knowing this, Katie Gardner was awake every morning at six o'clock to go pluck as many strawberries as she could before eight o'clock, when she had to go to breakfast and camp activities.

"It's six in the morning, Katie," Chiron said as he trotted by. He stopped and stood next to the daughter of Demeter, who was kneeling in the field, ripping strawberries at a rapid pace. "Why are you picking strawberries?"

"It's a competition in my cabin," Katie explained, breathing hard. Even though the sun hadn't risen yet, it was still extremely hot outside, and picking strawberries didn't exactly cool you down. "Whoever picks the most strawberries every month gets to pick everything first the following month; their seat at the table, first shower every day…"

Chiron nodded. He had heard about mini competitions like that; in Athena's cabin, it was for whoever read the most books over the month.

Katie filled her seventh basket for the day with a strawberry and moved on to her eighth. Every few seconds, she took a long drink from her water bottle, threw it down, and the continued to pick strawberries. At the fast rate she was going at, Chiron figured that the expensive plans for Annabeth's building idea could be fulfilled.

"Katie, I think you should take a break," Chiron said gently as she pricked herself on a thorn. "Who has first pick of everything right now?"

"Me," Katie answered, not stopping.

"Who had it last month?"

"Me."

"The month before that?"

"Me."

"Don't you think you've had enough?"

"No. I'm not giving up."

* * *

HOPE – a positive future view

The scariest moment in Percy's fifteen years of living was when he realized he was the child of the Prophecy; the one that would either preserve or raze Olympus against Kronos.

"Yep," Thalia agreed, popping a grape into her mouth. "Good luck with that, boy."

Percy shook his head. He didn't mind taking on a challenge, but he wished Thalia had been a little stronger and taken the Great Prophecy herself. Here he was, older than her, when she should've been twenty-one.

Nico laughed. He was glad that his father had taken him out of the Lotus Casino. Hades had wanted Nico to be the child of the prophecy, but it was Percy. It would always be Percy.

"I'm willing to go to the Lotus Casino," he said seriously, making Thalia spit out her grape and Nico's smile slide from his face. "Nico, you can be the child of the prophecy, or Thalia, you could quit the Hunters and—"

"Percy." Thalia's voice was as sharp as her arrow and as serious as ever. "I didn't join the Hunters just to escape the prophecy. I'm not a coward. Neither is Nico. Neither are _you_. You're going to go with Beckendorf and invade Luke's ship next week; you'll get a feel for how things will go down."

Nico nodded in agreement. "It would mess everything up if you quit now," he said. "Besides, I already have our…plan…set." Percy shivered when he thought of getting an Achilles spot; being invincible. It terrified him.

The moon overhead glowed brightly. Thalia sighed and stood up. "Well, duty calls," she said, patting her two male cousins on their shoulders. "I'll see you two around, okay? Don't die in the meantime."

Percy sighed. "Okay. I just hope Riptide and I can kill Kronos." He admired his pen in his hand.

"See? That's all you need, and you'll be fine," Thalia told him.

Percy looked up. "What, my sword?"

"No, hope," Thalia answered, her mind obviously somewhere else. "That's all you need."

* * *

FAITH – belief

"Isn't this fun?" Percy asked his best friend, Grover. The two twelve-year-olds were at Montauk, sitting in the beach and discussing life (as a sixth grader, of course.)

"Yeah," Grover replied sleepily. He yawned. "Wow, I'm tired. We should go to sleep soon. Like my old granddaddy used to say, sleeping is good for you."

Percy laughed. "I'm pretty sure he's not the only one," he said, shaking his head. "So, you were close to your grandpa?"

"Yeah," Grover answered wistfully. "He got killed a few years ago by Medusa, which was too bad."

"By what?"

"By...med...icine. Medicine. He didn't take the right medicine. He was super sick," Grover rambled, looking uncomfortable. Percy figured he didn't like speaking about his grandfather.

"I've never met my mom's parents," he sighed. "I wish I had. Maybe it would make up for me not knowing my dad."

Grover stared out at the sea, which was calm and cool and quiet, like it was waiting for Percy to talk. "Yeah," he said finally. "That's too bad. What does Sally...er, your mom, say about your dad?"

Percy shrugged. "They met here on the beach," he told Grover, reciting what his mom had told him. "She was barely out of high school when she got pregnant. Her parents were pretty upset about that, so she was mad at them, but she never got mad at my dad for leaving." He shrugged. "I don't know why. Now she's left with Smelly Gabe. I would be super mad."

"Yeah, Gabe does stink," Grover agreed, and the two laughed. On the drive down to Montauk, Gabe had belched in his sleep, and they had had to roll down he windows to get the stench out.

For a moment, Percy stared out at the ocean. He wondered what it was like to have a dad with you growing up. He hoped that his dad, whoever he was, was nothing like Smelly Gabe. Maybe his dad would teach him how to sail, and on the weekends, they would rent a boat and go sailing, just him, his mom, and his dad.

It was a nice thought. An impossible thought.

The two friends stood and made their way back to the cabin, where they found Gabe sleeping on the couch and Sally watching TV in the kitchen. She smiled warmly at them and offered them blue chocolate chip cookies; they each took one, and the three of them sat at the table.

"Mom," Percy said suddenly. "Why don't you hate Dad?"

"I—" Sally faltered. She shook her head. "Percy, where is this coming from?" She glanced worriedly at Grover, wondering if Poseidon had done something. The satyr shook his head.

"Me," Percy answered. "Am I ever going to meet him? Why did he leave?"

Sally clasped her hand over her son's. "Just have faith, Percy."

Ω

Percy and Annabeth were scared out of their minds. They were in Tartarus and were probably about to die any minute; Percy had the feeling in his gut whenever something bad was going to happen.

"What are we doing?" Percy groaned, looking around to find darkness. "What were we thinking? We can't do this! We're going to—"

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth snapped, grabbing his hand and intertwining it with her own. "We'll be fine."

"How do you know?" Percy asked as he heard a growl in the distance. "How do you know we'll be fine?"

Annabeth gripped his head and shrugged. "Instincts and faith, I guess."

Ω

Percy had always felt like he was about to get crushed from Tyson's hugs; now, though, he welcomed the feeling. Tyson's bone-crushing embrace helped calm down his much smaller brother.

"It's okay, brother," Tyson said in his low voice, releasing Percy. "Annabeth is strong. She is smart."

"That doesn't help," Percy fretted, pulling at his hair. He leaned against the hallway wall. "Tyson, what if the baby doesn't make it? What if Zoë dies? What if Annabeth dies? I'm not prepared for fatherhood, Tyson!" He slid down on the floor. "I don't want to be an absent dad."

"Then do not be one," Tyson replied simply, laying a comforting hand on Percy's shoulder. A nurse walked by and gave them a sympathetic smile. "All fathers go through this, Percy. Your baby and Annabeth will be fine."

Suddenly, a loud group of people entered the hallway. Percy groaned. To add to his stress, he didn't need a large group of people interrupting his conversation with Tyson.

"Percy!"

"How's Annabeth?"

"Get up, man! You're about to be a dad!"

Percy chuckled as he realized the group was there for him. Thalia, who still looked fifteen years old, which made everyone upset; Jason and Piper, who had recently gotten married; Nico and Will, who had bought a house together in Maine; Hazel and Frank, who led Camp Jupiter together; Grover and Juniper, who was five months pregnant with a baby boy (Trees could get pregnant? Percy didn't want to know); and Rachel and Athena, who actually looked at Percy with empathy for once.

Poseidon followed the group. He embraced Percy in a hug. "Congratulations, my boy!"

"The baby isn't born yet, Dad," Percy muttered. He welcomed his friends. "She's been having contractions for—"

"Mr. Jackson, you can come in now," the doctor said suddenly, popping her head out of the hospital room. "The baby will be here in a few minutes."

Athena stopped him as he was about to enter.

"Be a good father and husband, Percy," she said. "Be better than we gods are, yes?"

"Oh, um, absolutely, Athena," Percy said, nodding. For the first time, Athena and he hugged. It only lasted a second before they both realized how awkward it was.

Annabeth gripped his hand as he walked over to where she was laying.

"More...painful...than when...I was stabbed," she breathed, a layer of sweat on her forehead. "In Manhattan, remember?"

"How could I forget? I was so worried," Percy told his wife, squeezing her hand. "Do you need anything?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Not right now. I just want...Zoë...gods, Percy, this...so painful...what if...something happens to us..."

"You're doing great," Percy assured her, kissing her forehead. "Just have faith, Wise Girl."

* * *

"So, Zoë," Percy concluded. "If you have those virtues, you'll automatically be a nicer person. Understand?"

Annabeth held Percy's hand. Their daughter didn't answer; she was busy adding a drawing of her little brother in the picture of their family.

* * *

**A/N: How was that? Tell me what you thought! Also, my laptop was being weird tonight, so if you catch any grammar mistakes please let me know!**


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